I was about to say it's a game-data related issue, since it happens all over the place and is something that may find a workaround in mods, but this one seems actually correctly placed in Daggerfall classic:

orsinium lootpile 2 - classic.jpg (41.66 KiB) Viewed 407 times

orsinium lootpile - classic.jpg (47.56 KiB) Viewed 408 times

When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
-- Charles Goodhart

Loot containers such as this one receive an alignment step that takes a best-effort approach at aligning with surface below. The alignment logic is probably hitting an edge case that causes it to push upwards a bit instead. I'll take a look when I can.